Turnover device



R. J. HARRY Jan. 4, 1944.

TURN-OVER DEVICE Filed Oct. 30, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet l l N V E N TO R Aoerfi/ Harry Jig/64.40 WOC 1944- R. J. HARRY 2,338,285

TURN-OVER DEVICE Filed Oct. 50, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Poerfd. Haw/y Jan. 4, 1944 J, HARRY 2,338,285

TURN-OVER DEVICE Filed OCt. 30, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Jan. 4, 1944. R. .1. HARRY TURN-OVER DEVICE s Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Oct. 50, 1942 lNVENTOR A obe/vd/ /ar R. J. HARRY Jan. 4, 1944.

TURN-OVER DEVICE Filed Oct. 30, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Jan. 4, 1944 TURNOVER DEVICE Robert J. Harry, Alliance, Ohio, assignor to The Alliance Machine Company, Alliance, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Application October 30, 1942, Serial No. 463,906

12 Claims.

.This invention relates to apparatus for handling large masses and, in particular, to a device for turning over slabs of steel at a slabbing mill although it has other applications.

. It is necessary in the rolling of steel to turn over slabs at the slabbing mill to insure that both sides. are free from scale. Present mill practice contemplates the rolling of slabs of such size that turning them over presents a serious problem. Turn-over devices of certain forms have been known heretofore but have been characterized by serious shortcomings and it is the object of my invention, therefore, to provide an improved turn-over device particularly adapted for handling slabs of large size adjacent a slabbing mill.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, I provide a pair of spaced lifting arms, rigidly connected and rotatable about a central transverse axis. The arms are grooved so that suspending slings may be trained aboutthem. The slings include rigid links adapted to have broadside engagement with the slabs. The arms are journaled on a frame adapted to be disposed above the slab to be turned. The frame is movable vertically whereby to raise a slab from a support such as a roller table, on which it is resting, preparatory to tilting the slab and actually turning it through 180 by rotation of the arms. The vertically movable frame is itself preferably carried on a car or other traveling support, conveniently the trolley'of a bridge crane spanning the floor on which the slabbing mill is located.

A complete understanding of the invention may readily be obtained from the following detailed description and explanation thereof which refer to the accompanying drawings illustrating thepreferred embodiment above mentioned and modifications. In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view showing certain portions in part only;

Figure 2 is a side elevation; Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing the parts in alternative positions;

Figure 4 is a view partly in section along the plane of line"IV-IV of Figure 2 with parts in elevation;

Figure 5 is a partial section along the plane of line V--V of Figure 1;

' Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view showing the modification; and

- Figure? is a view similar to Figure 6 showing a further modification.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, a car loin'cluding a frame II and wheels lzjournaled thereon is adapted to move back and forth above the path of a slab traveling from a heating furnace to a slabbing mill. Such path is usually along a roller table indicated diagrammatically at 13, the position of a slab thereon being indicated at I4. The car Ill may conveniently be carried on a bridge crane l5 itself provided with wheels l6 adapted to travel along runways II at the sides of the building in which the conveyor l3 and the slabbing mill are located.

The car H] has a platform IS on which is mounted a driving motor I9. The motor is connected to the cross shaft 20, on which the wheels l2 at one end of the car are fixed, by reducing.

gearing 2!. The motor l9 thus serves to drive the car back and forth along the crane girders.

The car It has cross shafts 22 adjacent each end thereof journaled in bearings 23 and 24. The shafts 22 have pinions 25 secured thereto adjacent the bearings. These pinions mesh with racks 26 secured adjacent the corners of a frame 21 disposed between the shafts 22. As a result, the frame 21 may be raised and lowered, being maintained in a horizontal plane at all times, by rotating the shafts 22 in opposite directions at the same speed.

For driving the shafts 22, I provide a motor 28 on the platform [8. The motor is connected to the worms of worm-wheel reducing gears 29. The worm gears drive the shafts 22 through pin-v ions 30 and gears 3|. The reduction gears 29, the pinions 3B and gears 3| are identical so that operation of the motor 28 causes the frame 21 to be raised or lowered while maintaining it in a horizontal plane at all times.

The frame 21 has bearings 32 in which a shaft 33 is journaled. The shaft is provided with lifting arms 34 each of which extends in opposite directions from the shaft and has spaced flanges 35 similar to those of a sheave extending around the entire periphery thereof to serve as guides for slings 36 disposed thereon. The arms 34 in addition to being secured to the shaft 33 are connected by tie bars 31. The several arms are thus maintained rigidly in proper relation to each other and turn simultaneously on rotation of the shaft 33.

The frame 21 carries a platform 38 extending laterally thereof. A motor 39 mounted on the platform is adapted to drive the shaft 33 through a Worm and worm-wheel reduction gear 40, a pinion M and a gear 42 which is secured on the shaft.

The slings 36 are preferably composed of chains and include rigid links 43 and 44 adapted that shown at 53. After a few preliminary passes;

of the slab through the mill it is desirable to turn the slab over to make sure that all scale.

loosened from the surfaces by the preliminary passes is removed before the. rolling proceeds further. When this stage of the rolling has been reached, the crane I5, the car I and the frame 21 are positioned as shown in Figure 2 so that the links 44 of the slings 36 lie between adjacent rollers of the table l3 and below the plane tangent to the rollers. The roller table is then operated to position the slab above the links 44, as

illustrated in Figure 4.

When the slab hasbeen placedin position for turning over, as described above, the motor 28' is operated to drive the shafts 22 in such direction as to raise the frame 21. This position of the frame 2'! is illustrated in Figure 3. The arms 34 remain in the horizontal position indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3-until theframe has been raised. The links 43, 44 and 45 also remain in their original relation as shown in dotted lines; When the frame has been fully raised, the motor 39 is operated to turn the shaft 33 and with it the arms 34. Figure 3 shows the positions of the parts after the arms have been rotated through 90. It will be apparent that as the" links 44 tilt, the slab slidesdownwardly into engagement.

with the links 45 and eventually the links 43 engage one side of the slab, the links remaining in engagement with the other side. As the rotation of the shaft 33 continues, the arms 34 return to horizontal position 180 from the starting position. The links 44'and 45 and'slab I4. are,

then in the positions indicated in chainlines in Figure 3. The car l0 may. then be operated to center the slab above the roller table l3 and the motor 22; operated to lower the frame 21. The slab will thereby be replaced on the roller table in the same position in which it was originally except that it has been reversed side for side. The slab is then ready for further rolling and after it has advanced over the roller table to the 111111, the turn-over apparatus may be moved out of the way until needed again.

It will be apparent that the invention is characterized by numerous advantages. In the first place, it provides a simple yet highly effective mechanism for handling slabs which would otherwise be extremely difficult to manipulate. The apparatus may readily be designed to carry safely the largest slabs for which; rolling mills are designed. The slab is under perfect control at. all times during the turning and there isno violent shock produced at any time sinceone set of the long links of the two slings engages the slab in its vertical position and lowers it slowly therefrom tothe horizontal position.

The ability to move the turn-over device entirely out of the way is agreat advantage since it facilitates repairs as the table or 'millwhen necessary and for the further reason that any maintenance of the turn-over device itself does not necessitate shutting; down the mill; The en'- tire freedom of movement by which the entire apparatus is characterized, furthermore, makes it possible to pick up a slab at any point and' propriate modifications, to dispose slabs on edge for edge rolling. The invention i also applicable to the handling of plates for the purpose of inspection, after the rolling thereof has been completed. At present, the practice is to place plates on trestles.v This requires that the inspector crawl under the plates to inspect the bottom sur face. My turn-over device could be used'in the manner described to: place opposite surfaces of aplate, successively, on top for easy examination. Figure 6 illustrates a slight'modification of the invention. As there illustrated, a. bridge crane 5,6is provided with two trolleys shown diagram matically at 5| andr52; Eachtrolley has a winch 53- thereon, the. two winches controlling slingseach of which includes rigid links 54 and 51';v con-- The links- 54 and 56. have offsets51atthe end thereof secured heated by; intermediate links 1 55.

to the'suspension fromthe winches, which may be chains, cablesorpartchain and part cable as shown.

The modification ofFigureG is used in much the same manner, 8.5217115} preferred embodiment;

i. e., the crane and trolleys are positioned so that the rigid links; of; the. slings engage thev bottom ofa slab suchas thatshown ats58, The winches 53 of both trolleys are then operated to raise the slab abovezthe' roller. table on which it nor-'- mallyrests. When theslabzhas-thus been raised,

the winch on thetrolley. 52.is stopped; Continued operation of the winch ontrolley=5l tilts the. links 54 andthe slab 5.81resting thereon.v Simulta neously, the. trolleys; should be moved somewhat; closer togetherv as the'links 54 approach the ver-- tical. Whenthe slab has thus been turnedto the winch on'the trolley 5| :isstopped and the winch on=trolley 52,.is. caused :to pay out, thereby" lowering the links-56 and completing the turning;

of aslab... The offsets .51 onthe'links insure that the slab-willbe turned past: the dead-center!" position regardless; of whetherit isibeing turned clockwise or counterclockwise.

Figure? shows afurthermodification in which a bridge crane filliiis provided with a. trolley 61 traveling therealong and a, trolley 62 traveling on the trolley 6|. which together suspend liftingslings. similar to those of Figure 6. and the operation is the same as that describedfor the latter.

, The modifiedforms'ofthe invention arecharacterized by; the several advantages of the pres: A";

ferred embodiment previously mentioned. further advantage common to all forms of the invention is the fact that whenthe apparatus. has been operated through a turning cycle, it is immediately in condition for another operation, without the necessity of aipreli'minary. reversal. That is to say, the turningv operation maybev effected equallyasawell, regardless 10f whether the parts are 1 in, one, extreme; position or the other-.

Both trolleys have winches:

In other words, it makes no difference in which direction the slab is actually turned since it is turned through 180 in both cases.

A further advantage of the preferred embodiment arises out of the provision of three sets of arms 34 spaced apart by different distances. By using various combinations of arms (either the two outer arms as shown, or either of the outer arms with the intermediate arm), slabs of various lengths may be easily handled,

As shown, the links 43, 44, 54 and 56 are somewhat longer than the slab is wide and the links 45 and 55 are about as long as the slab is thick. The arms 34 also correspond generally in length to the slab width and in width to the slab thickness.

Although I have illustrated and described but a preferred embodiment of the invention with modifications, it will be understood that it may be embodied in forms other than those shown in the drawings without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A turn-over device for slabs or the like comprising a pair of spaced, parallel, lifting arms rigidly connected, means mounting said arms for rotation about a central transverse axis from one substantially horizontal position to the reverse position, means for raising and lowering said mounting means, and a sling trained along each of said arms and depending therefrom, each sling including a pair of rigid links adapted to have broadside engagement with the faces of a lab or the like.

2. A turn-over device for slabs or the like comprising a pair of spaced, parallel, lifting arms rigidly connected, means mounting said arms for rotation about a central transverse axis from one substantially horizontal position to the reverse position, means for raising and lowering said mounting means, and a sling trained along each of said arms and depending therefrom, each sling including a pair of rigid links adapted to have broadside engagement with the faces of a slab or the like, and intermediate links between said two first-menitoned links, said intermediate links being adapted to engage an edge of the slab.

3. A turn-over device for slabs or the like comprising a pair of spaced, parallel, lifting arms rigidly connected, a frame in which said arms are mounted for rotation about an axis transverse thereto and positioned centrally thereof, means for raising and lowering said frame, and a sling trained along each of said arms and depending therefrom.

4. A turn-over device {or slabs Or the like comprising a pair of spaced, parallel, lifting arms rigidly connected, means mounting said arm for rotation about a central transverse axis from one substantially horizontal position to the reverse position, means for raising and lowering said mounting means, and a sling trained along each of said arms and depending therefrom, each sling including at least one rigid link adapted to have broadside engagement with the faces of a slab or the like.

5. A turn-over device for slabs or the like comprising a pair of spaced, parallel, lifting arms rigidly connected, a frame in which said arms are mounted for rotation about an axis transverse thereto and positioned centrall thereof, a wheeled car on which said frame is carried, means on said car for raising and lowering said frame, and a sling trained along each of said arms and depending therefrom.

6. A turn-over device for slabs or the like comprising a pair of spaced, parallel, lifting arms rigidly connected, a frame in which said arms are mounted for rotation about an axis trans verse thereto and positioned centrally thereof, vertical racks on said frame, pinions meshing with said racks, means for driving said pinions, and a sling trained along each of said arms and depending therefrom, each sling including a pair of rigid links adapted to have broadside engagement with the faces of a slab or the like.

7. A turn-over device for slabs or the like com prising a pair of spaced, parallel, lifting arms rigidly connected, a frame in which said arms are mounted for rotation about an axis transverse thereto and positioned centrally thereof, means on said frame for rotating said arms, means for raising and lowering said frame, and a sling trained along each of said arms and depending therefrom.

8. In a turn-over device for slabs or the like, the combination with a bridge crane, a trolley traveling along on the crane, a frame mounted on the trolley for vertical movement, means on the trolley for raising and lowering the frame, a pair of spaced, parallel, lifting arms rigidly connected and journaled on said frame, means on the frame for rotating said arms, and a sling trained along each of said arms and depending therefrom, each sling including a pair of rigid links adapted to have broadside engagement with the faces of a slab or the like.

9. The apparatus defined by claim 1 characterized b said links having a length somewhat greater than that of said arms.

10. The apparatus defined by claim 1 characterized by said arms being rounded at their ends and having spaced flanges adapted to confine said slings.

11. The apparatus defined by claim 1 characterized by said arms having rounded ends and a width of the same general order as the thick ness of the slabs to be turned.

12. Apparatus for turning over slabs disposed on a roller conveyor table, comprising a bridge crane above said table and traveling longitudinally thereof, a trolley on said crane, a liftable frame on said trolley, lifting arms spaced along said frame and journaled therein for rotation about an axis parallel to said table, and slings depending from said arms including rigid links adapted to have broadside engagement with opposite faces of said slab and to lie between adjacent rollers of said table beneath said slab when the latter is thereon.

ROBERT J. HARRY.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2, 58,2 January i 19bi ROBERT J. HARRY.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows; Page 2, first column, line 72, for "repairs as" read -I'epaiI's to-; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same nay conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 8th day of February, A. D. 19bit.

Henry Van Arsdale, (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

